The Fourth Calamity never believed in the steel torrent!

Chapter 204: Technology Tree Unlocked, Head North to Face Alterac

Back in his bedroom, lying on the luxurious, soft bed, Andrei's head was still a little dizzy.

He was inexplicably promoted to general, which was quite a surprise. He was no longer flying by rocket, but by subspace engine!
It's hard to imagine how many generals in the empire would shed tears over this outrageous promotion speed, watching a captain be promoted to general in just one month. They would probably feel like they'd wasted their lives.

After much thought, the only other person Andrei could think of who could achieve such an exaggerated speed of promotion was Napoleon, who fought the Battle of Toulon and was promoted directly from captain to brigadier general.

Unlike the Soviet Union in the past, the Cambrian Empire in this world does not have a military rank system. The rank structure here is relatively simple, and there are no ranks such as captain, colonel, or brigadier general.

Even so, Andrei's speed of promotion was comparable to that of Napoleon back in the day!

He first checked his player recruitment permissions, and now the number of players he could recruit jumped two levels from the original 300 to 3000.

This means that even if he simply recruits players, he can organize a brigade of military forces!

Regarding the activity range, he is not quite sure how large the current activity range of players is, and he can test this in the future when there is an opportunity.

Considering the further expansion of the army he now commands, he believes that the players' activity range must also increase, otherwise they simply cannot operate effectively on a large battlefield.

Besides this bonus, the permission that makes Andrei most happy is that his players can now unlock the minimap!

Although unlocking the minimap is very expensive, requiring 10 influence points, Andrei, who had fought several major battles in a row, was very generous and unlocked the feature without hesitation.

Players with a minimap and players without a minimap are completely different concepts.

It's not quite enough in open field combat, but in complex urban warfare, the minimap is an absolute godsend!

While the enemy was still hiding in an alley, preparing to ambush passing players, the player had already spotted the enemy on the minimap and circled around behind them.

With this ability, every player can instantly become a master of urban warfare. Even veterans who have participated in the meat grinder-like urban warfare will not be able to fight against players who have used cheats!
Unfortunately, the minimap that players can access is a stripped-down version compared to Andrei's own.

Andrei's minimap now covers a radius of one kilometer, but the player's minimap only covers a radius of 100 meters.

"Tsk, could it be that the player's minimap coverage area has always been only one-tenth of mine?"

Andrei frowned, then put the matter out of his mind.

Although it's been somewhat stripped down, the minimap function is still genuine, and the 100-meter range is generally sufficient for players during combat.

After all, these players can communicate with each other in the chat area. By making good use of both the minimap and the chat area, they can piece together a large enough map on their own. It will depend on their teamwork and skills.

"Right, we can't just let players access the minimap directly like this, let's just set up a recharge option!"

"Recharge six yuan to unlock the mini-map, after all, you have to spend money to get stronger!"

After setting this up, Andrei had a smug smile on his face.

Although he knew that he would be criticized for setting up this recharge option, why should he care?

The money comes from the players; he spent so much influence value to unlock the minimap, so shouldn't he take some of it from the players?

Speaking of in-game purchases, Andre pondered for a moment before moving on to another way to monetize his spending spree – skins.

Regardless of the game, skins are a popular way to extract money from players' pockets. Previously, he had only released ordinary cosmetic skins, but he felt that he could now release a skin with actual functional benefits.

Skins that only change appearance are cheap, but if you need to give the skin attribute bonuses, then Andre's production cost will become extremely expensive.

Each attribute bonus requires him to pay 10,000 influence points, and the more attribute bonuses there are, the more the price will double.

If you calculate it that way, he feels that having two attribute bonuses on a skin is quite worthwhile, and it becomes less and less worthwhile after that.

However, considering that skins need to be released gradually, otherwise the strength of future skins will not be able to attract players to spend money, Andre only set one attribute bonus for his new skin.

Inspired by the appearance of the Krieg grenadier, Andrei created an appearance and then added an attribute that increases charge speed by 10%.

What is the Krieg Legion best at?
In Andrei's memory, the Krieg Regiment was best known for its desperate charges!
At least in his memory, every time the Krieg Legion won a battle, it was by charging forward recklessly and piling up men. As long as the charge was reckless enough, even a Chaos Demon could be stabbed to death by Krieg's bayonet!
So he simply added a charge attribute to Krieg's skin, and the reason he added 10% was because the maximum he could reach was only 10%.

Otherwise, do you really think he doesn't want to raise the limit to 100%?
"Wait, this is a bit troublesome..."

Just then, Andrei suddenly noticed something that made him frown slightly. If he were to create a skin for the Krieg Legion, and he wanted players to not unleash a war cry when launching a bayonet charge, he would have to add an extra attribute!
After thinking about it, he realized that he had already used up all the influence points in the previous section, so he might as well add another attribute to make up for it!

Otherwise, Krieg's constant battle cries during his charge would be too jarring, and players might not appreciate it. Krieg's appeal lies in charging in silence and dying in silence, doesn't it?
After much thought, he decided to add the attribute anyway, since players could only see the numerical bonus on the player interface and not the changes to the skills.

In this way, he won't have to worry about being questioned by players in the future about why, for the same price, this skin has two attribute bonuses, but that skin only has one attribute bonus.
After setting up the skin and assigning it a higher price, Andrei removed the skin's appearance disguise.

Previously, he didn't want players to create a bunch of messy skins, which would result in soldiers' uniforms being too chaotic and making it impossible to distinguish friend from foe on the battlefield. So he set up a skin with a disguised appearance.

This way, only players can see what their skin looks like; ordinary NPCs will still see the classic Cambrian Empire military uniform.

However, by now, he has become a major general, and he has recruited 3000 players under his command!

Even if we take the lowest estimate and only one in ten players buys this skin, he can still assemble a 300-man army!

If, as before, a skin is used by only a few dozen or even a dozen people, it will naturally leave the impression of being a ragtag group.

However, if an entire 300-strong army uses the same skin and can be organized into a special unit, then it is naturally no longer the original ragtag army.

This is clearly a special branch of the military, a unit of honor, just like Napoleon's old guard!
On the battlefield, once it's brought out, anyone, friend or foe, will instantly know that it's the enemy's elite!
After getting a brand new skin, Andre immediately unlocked equipment, this time the artillery.

He had discovered in previous battles that one of the biggest weaknesses of his troops was the lack of artillery.

Although in positional warfare, players can use mortars and various other small cannons, along with the artillery fire from armored vehicles, to achieve a semblance of artillery effectiveness.

At that time, his independent regiment was just an insignificant ragtag force, and it was not surprising that it didn't have any proper artillery.

However, his troops have now been upgraded to the division level, so it would be a bit absurd if he didn't have a dedicated artillery unit.

Of course, he knew that the army would definitely equip him with dedicated artillery, so even without player participation, he could still obtain a batch of artillery pieces.

But ordinary artillery is nowhere near as good as the special artillery used by players.

When a conventional artillery piece fires, can the impact point of the shell be observed from a bird's-eye view?

Can ordinary artillery fire with the same ferocity as the player's when they fire?

Regarding the artillery unlocking, he only glanced at it briefly before tossing the infantry gun aside.

Infantry guns are certainly useful on the battlefield, but they're not very useful for players to operate.

At that time, its range and power will not be much greater than that of a mortar, and it will be far less agile than a mortar, and it will not be as effective as the artillery of player vehicles.

As a result, infantry guns will definitely be disliked by players!

So as soon as it was unlocked, he turned his attention to heavy artillery!
The artillery he unlocks is limited to Battlefield 1, or more specifically, artillery from World War I. However, since these artillery pieces are for the player to use, the disadvantages of many artillery pieces from World War I are not actually that obvious.

During World War I, the biggest disadvantage of many artillery pieces was their mobility. Because trench warfare was common at the time, artillery rarely needed to move long distances and did not need to consider factors such as blitzkrieg. As a result, the mobility of artillery pieces was generally poor, and the gun barrels were often quite heavy.

But for players, none of this is a problem!
The physics engine makes the vehicles used by the players behave strangely, but Andrei doesn't see anything wrong with using these vehicles to tow artillery.

If all else fails, he might as well have the players figure out a way to get the artillery onto the plane, and then have the plane take the artillery away.

With the physics engine boost, tanks can even fly, let alone these cannons.

Therefore, Andrei directly chose to unlock the British BL 9.2-inch siege gun from World War I!
To put it in perspective, this cannon has a caliber of 234 millimeters, making it a true siege weapon. A single shot would have devastating effects, instantly inflicting heavy damage on the enemy!
This artillery piece has a maximum range of 12.7 kilometers, which is not very far, but it is sufficient for Andrei's current divisional forces.

He was certain that his division-level troops would not be equipped with such heavy artillery; the largest caliber they would likely have been was a 152mm howitzer.

With such a cannon, he believed that at a critical moment, his troops would surely be able to bring great surprises to the enemy!

Besides the cannon, Andrei originally wanted to unlock the light tank, namely the French Renault FT17 tank, but then he thought that this kind of tank was not very reliable.

This tank is famous in history because it was the first tank with a rotating turret, essentially serving as the prototype for various tanks that followed.

However, from a game perspective, this tank is actually quite average. In artillery duels, it can't even beat armored vehicles. It can only be used to bully enemy infantry or launch surprise attacks from the flanks.

As for mobility, this tank's mobility hasn't improved much. So, with only average firepower and protection, and no significant improvement in mobility, Andrei really doesn't think this thing has any advantage over the Saint-Samon.

If I had to say, this thing is a bit more flexible than the San Chamon; it can rotate its turret 360 degrees when firing.

With that in mind, he decided to simply continue upgrading the tank technology tree and then recruit tanks from World War II!

Unlocking the World War II tank tech tree costs much more than the World War I tech tree, but as soon as he unlocked it, Andrei saw a huge number of tanks on it, which were much better than the few tanks that were available in World War I.

Looking at the huge, messy array of tanks, Andrei was quite overwhelmed and didn't know which tank he should unlock.

Personally, he almost instinctively wanted to unlock the Tiger tank first, since this tank was truly famous in World War II.

Moreover, the Tiger tank's biggest shortcomings in World War II are not a problem for players at all.

For example, the Tiger is prone to malfunctions, but when placed in the hands of players, these vehicles will not malfunction while in motion, and will remain in good condition unless attacked.

For example, Tiger tanks are difficult to produce, but for players, they can simply recruit from the factory to produce tanks, and after a short wait, the tanks will be ready to go.

Therefore, this issue is not a problem for players at all.

But then, Andrei realized that he might not be able to afford a Tiger tank!

I have no idea how the price of this thing was determined. The price of tanks in the early stages of World War II and the middle and late stages of World War II were completely different, reaching a whole new level.

Besides that, in Andrei's tech tree interface, he could even see some rather outrageous things, such as tanks that had never even been produced, yet they could still be exchanged.

He didn't know where the prototypes of these tanks came from. If he had to say, he felt they might have been taken from games like World of Tanks.
A jumble of random, oddly shaped Tier 9 and Tier 10 vehicles—he looked at them with a strange sense of familiarity.

After some consideration, he realized that if he were to exchange for the Tiger now, maintaining player resurrection would be a problem, and even if he did exchange it, he wouldn't have enough funds to produce more.

So after some research, he ultimately chose to exchange for a Soviet T-34-76 tank.

Undoubtedly, compared to the T-34-85 tank of World War II, the T-34-76 tank had many shortcomings in many aspects. The most criticized aspect of this tank, besides not being equipped with enough radios, was that it did not have a commander.

The Russians had a simple idea: they believed that the tank commander was only responsible for observing and giving orders, and that this role could be filled by someone else. There was no need to add an extra person to the tank.

Therefore, the T34-76 tank they designed could only carry four people, with the gunner serving as the commander.

The problem is that tank crew members have very limited visibility inside the tank, and they often have to stick their heads out to better observe the enemy.

However, once the tank commander, who is acting as the gunner, sticks his head out, he has to leave the gun position and will be unable to operate the gun.

This resulted in the T34-76 tank having extremely poor visibility, often leaving the driver unable to locate the enemy even after being hit by them.

Before advancing to the next rank, Andrei should also pay attention to this issue, because the players here operate vehicles from a first-person perspective, which means the player observes the outside from the perspective of sitting inside the tank.

Therefore, if a tank's visibility is poor, even if a player is driving it, they cannot avoid this awkward problem.

However, after upgrading his rank, Andrei can unlock a third-person perspective for his tanks, similar to the mode in War Thunder or World of Tanks Blitz.

In this situation, players don't have to worry about vision when operating the tank; they are always in an optimal vision state, almost like a god's-eye view.

As for communication issues, players, who can communicate in the chat area at any time, will never be restricted by communication problems.

In this respect, players are practically like a special kind of swarm of insects, with their own mental network!

So, after thinking it over, Andrei immediately chose to unlock the T34-76 tank. After all, if you disregard the two shortcomings mentioned earlier, this tank was truly one of the best tanks in the early stages of World War II.

Especially since this tank originally came from Russia, he didn't need to worry about it being unsuitable for the local conditions. He could use it right away after exchanging for it! Soon, players received a large wave of game updates, and just as Andrei had predicted, when they saw that unlocking the minimap function actually required recharging, the chat area was instantly filled with complaints.

Despite the complaints, players' actions speak louder than words, with most choosing to recharge and unlock the minimap.

Because the minimap can indeed bring them a better gaming experience; having a minimap on the battlefield and not having one makes a world of difference.

Especially in chaotic terrain, enemies hiding in some corner are really hard to spot. But on the minimap, all these hidden enemies can be seen at a glance by the player, and the difference in skill level immediately becomes apparent.

As for the tank update, players were speechless when they saw that the game had even released the T34-76 tank.

After all, they had always thought their tech tree was the same as the World War I tech tree. Although many of the enemies in the game were outrageous, their tech tree seemed to be the same as the Battlefield 1 model.

Judging from the current situation, it seems that the game's developers are starting to innovate instead of simply copying Battlefield 1?
Meanwhile, Andrei's new troops were arriving one after another, and several units that had withdrawn from the battlefield were being rapidly reorganized and incorporated into the Vorontsov Independent Combat Group led by Andrei.

In this regard, apart from giving speeches to the soldiers every day to introduce his heroic deeds on the front lines and boost their confidence, he basically didn't need to do much else.

Most things could actually be handled by his deputy division commander and chief of staff.

Indeed, as Andrei was promoted, his deputy regimental commander Yuri and the old man chief of staff were also promoted to colonels and became the deputy division commander and chief of staff of his unit.

Regarding this, Andrei felt that the high command might want to preserve the core of his unit as much as possible, using the already formidable Vorontsov Independent Regiment as the backbone, allowing them to continue to develop and excel within the unit.

On the other hand, it may also be because at the beginning of the war, frontline officers suffered heavy casualties and a large number of officers were killed, so many officers had to be temporarily promoted.

To put it bluntly, the Cambrian Empire doesn't have that many talented people to assign to Andrei right now, so they simply promoted Andrei's old guard as well.

The old guard is good. Andrei is still more familiar with the old guard. At least it's much better than suddenly being given a bunch of officers whose backgrounds are unknown.

These days, the officers in the Cambrian Empire are of very varying quality. Many officers are just there to coast along, and it's unclear how they even got their positions.

What? You're saying that Andrei's predecessor was so incompetent that he could become a captain?
Okay, he understands now. These are truly wicked noble children!

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but Andrei always felt that there were very few aristocratic officers in his unit, and the vast majority of officers were commoners.

Perhaps it is because, in the eyes of the traditional Cambrian Empire officers, officers from the civilian faction meant a lack of professional competence and ability.
After all, these noble lords are all high and mighty, emphasizing bloodline and honor all day long, thinking that they were born noble and so on. How could they possibly be inferior to commoners?

Furthermore, the general education level of the common people in the Cambrian Empire was generally low, and they lacked family traditions of learning and had not received relevant education.

Therefore, in many situations, they really cannot compete with the children of noble families in various schools and positions, which seems to confirm this theory of bloodline.

Andrei felt no dissatisfaction that most of his officers were civilians; on the contrary, he thought it was the best thing about it!

Honestly, if he were given a whole bunch of aristocratic officers, he wouldn't know how to command these noble lords!
After all, these noble lords are all quite opinionated, and they have a lot to do on the battlefield. He had seen them before in the army group headquarters. Some noble generals even bring a whole entourage of servants with them when they go to war!

He had to admit he was being naive. He used to scoff at the scenes of drinking coffee in command posts in TV dramas, but when he actually witnessed it, he discovered that some officers would bring their own coffee-making servants to the battlefield!

As for the vibration of the shells causing dirt to fall into the coffee cup?

Please, what are servants for? Don't they know how to cover themselves up?

If servants were this clueless, they would have been out of a job long ago!

Because the vast majority of officers in the unit were civilians, and these people had heard about Andrei's heroic deeds in the newspapers, and also learned many details from the soldiers on the front lines.

Therefore, the integration of the troops proceeded quite smoothly, and no troublemakers who refused to obey orders were encountered.

No fool would dare to jump out at this time and accuse Andrei of being young or of fabricating his military achievements. To accuse a nobleman without cause is a very serious crime!

After some reorganization, Andrei's unit consisted of approximately three infantry brigades, one artillery regiment, and one armored regiment.

Of these three infantry brigades, one is mechanized, but the other two rely on foot transport, with their main transportation force consisting of various horses.

If, before Andrei's time travel, he had been a military novice who had only watched a few documentaries and had a superficial understanding of the battlefield, he would have complained that military horses were unreliable and believed that mechanization was the only way forward.

But after arriving in this world, he realized that mechanization was not always reliable, especially in places like the Cambrian Empire where road conditions were terrible. Mechanization often couldn't outrun a horse.

Especially in the coming summer, when they will face autumn and winter wars, the advantages of warhorses will gradually become apparent with rain and snow.

Thinking about this, Andrei suddenly realized something: all the armored vehicles in this world use mechanical legs to move. Even though the chassis of mechanical legs is relatively large, it is still not as large as the contact area of ​​tracks.

If even the tracks can get stuck in the mud, wouldn't the mechanical feet be even more likely to get stuck in winter?
In particular, these machines need to be coated with a lot of lubricating oil to move flexibly. When the harsh winter of the Cambrian Empire arrives, won't all the lubricating oil be frozen?
Ordinary lubricating oil freezes at temperatures between -10 and -30 degrees Celsius. He wasn't sure exactly how cold the Cambrian Empire's winters were, but he believed that the place was probably no warmer than Russia in winter.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt an urge to laugh. When winter came, his advantages would be fully revealed!
After all, the player's armored vehicle is not affected by these temperature and terrain factors. As long as it is not directly attacked, the player's armored vehicle can continue to operate normally!

Doesn't this mean that while the enemy's mechs are all frozen solid, our tanks can still drive normally and advance quickly through the snow?
Since Andrei's troops were mostly troops that had retreated from the front lines or were in retreat, their current task was to regroup and rest, and they did not have any combat missions to undertake.

During these days, Andrei also enjoyed the decadent life of a nobleman in his own castle, while also giving players some daily tasks to keep them from getting bored.

For example, in order to prepare for the likely siege that is about to break out, Petrograd needs to set up a large number of additional fortifications, and Andrei has entrusted the task of building these fortifications to the player.

During these days, a large number of new players became "dust collectors," whose daily tasks consisted of killing various dust monsters, building bunkers outside the city, and constructing fortress cannons along the way.

Due to the defeat in naval battles and the loss of air superiority, the Cambrian Empire's navy has now retreated entirely to the port of Petrograd, no longer seeking a decisive naval battle with the enemy.

The good news is that a large number of elite Marines have been incorporated into the Army, becoming the backbone of the Army's elite infantry.

In addition, the cannons on several other warships have been dismantled and are being gradually converted into fortress cannons by the players.

Besides the task of clearing dust, many new players also receive the task of transportation.

The troops at the front need to receive a large amount of supplies every day, while a large amount of supplies also need to be transported to Petrograd from the rear.

Due to the enemy's relentless air raids, many railway lines were destroyed, so much so that transportation tasks often had to be handled by road.

In situations like this, an all-around player becomes the best candidate for a vehicle soldier!
Give the players a truck and a wrench, and they can transport supplies to the front lines intact with minimal losses along the way.

Many truck breakdowns are no problem for players; they can fix the truck by simply turning the wrench a couple of times, as long as they don't turn it the wrong way.

Even enemy air raids are less effective against players, since players have many outrageous anti-aircraft defenses.

For example, some players can pull out an AT gun while driving and fire a shot at a small airship that is about to dive-bomb.

Some players even carry entrenching tools with them. When an enemy airship is about to land, they quickly hammer out an anti-aircraft gun right in front of the enemy and then bombard the sky with it!

As a result, countless small anti-aircraft positions appeared along the highway from Petrograd to the front lines, which reassured the transport convoys but also prompted many generals to complain:
Why are all these good anti-aircraft guns placed on the roadside?
Someone reported the problem to the army group headquarters, and then Andrei's adoptive father passed the buck to him.

Andrei himself stated that all these anti-aircraft guns were his private property, and he could arrange them however he wanted!

Of course, if someone wants these anti-aircraft guns, they can trade them for something else!
So during these days, Andrei's troops gained a lot of supplies that other troops simply did not have, including a large amount of high-quality canned food and sausages, and even live pigs and chickens!
Seeing this, Andrei could only say that these officers understood logistics!

Anyway, these things are all logistical supplies, not from their own pockets. If they exchange these things for equipment from Andrei, then they'll be incorporated into their private armed forces!

Indeed, according to Andrei's investigation, a considerable number of the generals and officers who exchanged anti-aircraft guns from him did not move these anti-aircraft guns to the front lines, but instead used them to defend their own homes!
Good heavens, Andrei using these anti-aircraft guns to maintain rear supply lines is considered improper use, but when they use these things to protect their own homes, it's considered proper use.

In response, he could only say that these guys might as well have left the anti-aircraft guns in place and let him use them to cover road transport!
Although Andrei was very dissatisfied with the actions of these officers, under their management, the logistics of Andrei's unit were running at full capacity.

The soldier's weapons were one thing, but thanks to the ammo boxes dropped by the player, he didn't lack bullets anyway.

However, the various food benefits that were unavailable in other units greatly boosted the morale of Andrei's unit.

Although he knew that the morale boost from food was only temporary and that the morale boost from food was ultimately limited.

The motivational effect of food is only significant once basic needs are met; once those needs are met, the motivational effect diminishes considerably.

But all of this is on the premise that basic needs are met, and the food supply for the vast majority of soldiers in the Cambrian Empire cannot meet their basic needs!
On ordinary days, their military rations are far from being very good; their primary concern is simply whether they can eat their fill!
During the battle, most Cambrian soldiers could only eat two meals a day because the food they could get was simply not enough to support three meals a day!

It wasn't until they arrived at Andrei's unit that they learned that the Empire actually had troops who could eat as much as they wanted, and that there was even an unlimited supply of stewed meat cans!
While procuring food for his troops, Andrei also made a special suggestion to his adoptive father, asking him to use his position as army commander to transport as many supplies as possible to Petrograd.

"Old man, don't take this as alarmist, but I think you can see for yourself that our defenses on the Luga River will eventually crumble!"

"If the enemy's armored forces break through our defenses and circle around from the southeast all the way to northeast of Petrograd, we will be completely surrounded by the enemy!"

"The Black Hawk Empire only needs to surround the east and south of Petrograd. The remaining part of the encirclement will be handled by the Altranian army, which will come around from the northwest. Petrograd will be completely isolated!"

"At that time, famine will inevitably break out in this city!"

As he spoke, Andrei's expression became worried. He had not forgotten how severe the famine in Leningrad was during the Siege of Leningrad.

According to official Soviet figures, a total of 64 people died of starvation during the Siege of Leningrad. However, there are various other accounts, the most exaggerated of which claims that as many as 150 million people died of starvation in the Leningrad region.

Andrei did not want Petrograd to suffer the same fate in the future. Even if a siege was inevitable, he hoped to stockpile as many supplies as possible before then.

After listening to Andrei's introduction, the general lit his pipe, took a deep drag, and turned his gaze to the Altynian army, which was also heading towards Petrograd.

In the previous Great Northern War, although the Cambrian Empire defeated Altera and seized a large amount of their territory, more than 300,000 Cambrian soldiers fell on Altera's soil in that war.

Even his severed hand was lost on Alterania's territory!
Now, Altrania, an ally of the Black Hawk Empire, has launched another attack. Although its offensive is not as swift as Black Hawk's, it is also steadily closing in on Petrograd.

After taking a few puffs of his cigarette, the general patted Andrei on the shoulder and said:

"In that case, Major General Vorontsov, I'm going to give you a task. I wonder if you can complete it?"

Andrei didn't speak, but simply gave a proper salute.

Now that things have come to this point, how can he possibly refuse?
The general nodded, then picked up a pen and drew a line on the map, saying:

"Next, I need your troops to move north and defend the Saa region as much as possible. You must hold the port and railway of Murmansk!"

"Next, I'll try to use some personal connections. I can't guarantee it will work, but I'll try my best to get supplies transported from Murmansk to Petrograd. Your job is to hold this place firmly for me!"

"I don't know exactly how much supplies I can transport, but I'll do my best to make the upcoming siege easier!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the general suddenly coughed exaggeratedly twice and wiped his eyes discreetly.

He felt a pang of sympathy for Andrei, who had only been back for half a month and had only rested for two weeks at most.

In this situation, his troops had just arrived and hadn't even had time for further reorganization and integration before they had to rush back to the front lines.

But there's no way around it; they simply can't spare any more troops to defend Altrania in the north.

In this war, Altrania seemed to be preparing to avenge its defeat in the Great Northern War, and amassed the nation's forces for a major offensive, ready to wipe away its shame.

But the general didn't notice that Andrei, who received the mission, had a smile on his face.

Another war is about to break out? That's great!
If there's no war, where does his influence come from?
If he can't kill enemies or make any big moves, where will he get more influence points to unlock more weapon units?
Besides, if there's no war, his players will rebel.

Andrei knew that only by fighting could he continuously advance in rank, thereby gaining more players, a larger army, and greater influence.

He couldn't explain why, but he had a bad feeling.

He always felt that, in addition to facing external invasions, the Cambrian Empire was also experiencing a huge undercurrent within its borders.

The country's system is built on a powder keg, and he believes that if any dramatic changes occur in the Cambrian Empire, it will inevitably lead to a new round of turmoil.

He didn't know how he would deal with such turmoil, but he believed that having great power in his hands was never a bad thing.

To put it bluntly, even if he wants to remain neutral, he needs to have enough strength. What kind of neutral party can he be without strength?

(End of this chapter)